Measures of the state and local government capital stock and investment are necessary inputs into several areas of economic analysis, including the measurement of national wealth and its growth. We estimate net investment and depreciation of state and local government nonresidential capital. In...

This paper presents the results of a computer simulation of the expected present value of benefits, taxes, and transfers, rates of return, and marginal linkage of benefits and taxes for persons of different income levels and family status. A number of important issues associated with the "deal"...

Using data from the longitudinal retirement history survey (RHS), we examine the economic status of the cohort of the elderly who were 68 -73 years old by 1979 to see who fell through the safety net in the 1970s. Our most important finding is that a non-trivial fraction of the elderly in the...

This paper computes the expected present value of Social Security retirement benefits and taxes for households of different marital circumstances, incomes, and age cohorts. Also computed are the net gain or loss from participation in the system and the expected internal rate of return it offers...

We study the effects of tax laws on foreign direct investment (FDI) and direct investment abroad (DIA), distinguishing in each case between investment financed by retained earnings and investment financed by transfers from abroad. We find that tax policy, through its effect on the rate-of-return...

Government capital formation raises a number of issues important to national economic well-being, yet the U.S., unlike most advanced countries, does not account for capital in its formal budget documents. We estimate depreciation of government capital using a methodology developed by Hulten and...

Among the interesting changes in the U.S. economy in recent years have been the substantial changes in the age distribution of income and its components. These changes are interesting in and of themselves, but also are an important background against which to interpret aggregate economic...

The substantial post war decline in the U.S. saving rate has added great impetus to the debate over whether public debt policy crowds out saving. Rather than attempting to reject specific saving models, empirical research on debt policy and savings has primarily focused on the impact of...

We calculate a time series of the value of federal mineral rights in oil and natural gas by using various estimates of proven and unproven reserves and time series on federal government royalties and bonus payments. We also present estimates of the components of the revaluation of this series...

This paper compares the well-being of the Retirement History Survey of the elderly with their own previous levels of income and economic welfare. Traditional replacement rates are calculated, although a number of shortcomings of such measures are discussed. Modifications are made by examining...